SAN ANTONIO -- Nonito Donaire, who has already won titles at flyweight and bantamweight, plus an interim title at junior bantamweight, won yet another piece of hardware.
The "Filipino Flash," despite a damaged left hand that was soaked in blood when his glove was removed after the fight, won a split decision against Wilfredo Vazquez Jr. to claim a vacant junior featherweight title Saturday night at the Alamodome in the co-featured bout on the card headlined by Julio Cesar Chavez Jr.'s middleweight title defense against Marco Antonio Rubio.
Chris Farina/Top RankNonito Donaire, right, fought through a bloody hand injury to break down Wilfredo Vazquez Jr. and secure a junior featherweight belt Saturday.
"Vazquez was tougher than I expected," said Donaire, who thought the hand was broken. "I couldn't find my rhythm, and I hurt my hand somewhere between the second and fourth rounds. I could only move it a little bit."
Donaire, making his debut in the 122-pound weight class, looked frustrated at times but took it to Vazquez and certainly did enough to win despite a disagreement among the judges. Levi Martinez and Don Trella both had it 117-110 for Donaire while Ruben Garcia had it 115-112 for Puerto Rico's Vazquez, the son of former three-division titlist Wilfredo Vazquez Sr. ESPN.com also had it for Donaire, 117-110.
Donaire, 29, had a big third round, sending Vazquez reeling into a corner with a combination and then rocking him with several shots while he was pinned in the corner. But Vazquez was able to punch out of the dangerous spot as they engaged in an action-packed sequence that ended when Vazquez threw a wild shot, missed and fell to the mat from his own momentum.
Although Donaire (28-1, 18 KOs) seemed in control, he also seemed to be getting frustrated that he couldn't really do much damage to Vazquez even though he was landing shots.
He was warned for a low blow in the seventh round and was clowning around in the eighth, as if to try to draw Vazquez (21-2-1, 18 KOs) into him.
Donaire finally broke through in the ninth round when he caught Vazquez, 27, with a left uppercut followed by a hard left hand that dropped Vazquez. He was up quickly, however, and Donaire wasn't able to do any more damage in the final 30 seconds of the round.
"When I knocked him down in the ninth round, that was the end of the hand," Donaire said. "I was in agony."
There is a lot of potential business for Donaire at 122 pounds, and he intends to deal with it, which means potential fights with Jorge Arce, Toshiaki Nishioka and Guillermo Rigondeaux.
"I'm definitely staying at 122 for awhile," Donaire said. "There are things [trainer] Robert [Garcia] asked me to do that I couldn't do so well, so we will go back to the drawing board."
Top Rank promoter Bob Arum said the next fight for Donaire probably will be Arce, who vacated the title Donaire won to move down and claim one of the bantamweight belts Donaire had relinquished. Arce would move back up to 122 to challenge Donaire.
"Let's see what happens with his hand first," Arum said of Donaire. "That will determine everything, but depending on the timing, we want him to face Arce next."
Vazquez was bidding to regain the title he lost in May to Arce, but he had trouble with Donaire's speed.
"He's real quick," Vazquez said. "He caught me with some good punches. He surprised me by hitting me when I was off balance. I thought I did pretty well. I was patient, but he is a great fighter."
source : ESPN.com
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